Will there be a trio in a contrasting key in the middle?

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Galileo, Galileo...

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The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF

That's what I was wondering.

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My heart is forever in the Shire.

I'm still not sure what either of you are talking about.

If you are referring to the word "minuet" that is exactly the word that I meant to use.

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In gratitude forever … .

Yup. That's what inquiring minds wanted to know. I believe most of us suspected it was a typo.

And since it's not, oh dear.

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My heart is forever in the Shire.

The board voted 3-0 to certify, with Shinkle abstaining.

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In gratitude forever … .

Probably can't go to jail for that, though I'm told he could have for voting no (but maybe only if the nos had it?)

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign's appeal brief and other filed documents are so bizarre that neither Brad Heath nor I can make heads or tails of it.

But I am enjoying watching him try!

My favorite filing is from the defendants, who filed a "motion to clarify". My second favorite is from a group of GOP congressmen (the same ones of filed a new suit in Pennsylvania state court) who filed a motion to intervene and cited the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure instead of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

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In gratitude forever … .

Also in Pennsylvania, per Marc Elias (the attorney heading up the Democrats' election litigation), the state supreme court affirmed five lower state court decisions in favor of the Democrats in Philadelphia *and* overturned one of the Biden campaigns' two losses elsewhere in the state (in which, as I recall, a lower state court tossed out some 4,000 ballots in greater Pittsburgh for not having dates on the privacy envelope even though they were received before election day -- if I'm wrong in my memory, please correct me).

Trump has long since run out of legitimate ways to stop Biden from becoming president, but with this, I think he's also run out of illegitimate ways.

That said, that Trump even got a canvasing board member to abstain on certifying a result in which Trump's opponent beat him by well over 100,000 votes (based on possible discrepancies on a few hundred votes at most) is a blot on our democracy.

I believe you are correct, and I meant to post about the PA Supreme Court decision but got caught up in the Michigan minuet and whatever it is that the radio host is trying to do in the Court of Appeal (actually, it is the radio host's associate, because he is the only one representing the Trump campaign that is actually certified to practice in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals).

x-posted with N.E.B. second post - yes, I agree, both about Trump running out of even illegitimate options and the blot.

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In gratitude forever … .

The Freedom Fund, which is supported by the family of Trump's education secretary Betsy DeVos, says that the board did the right thing, that it should have been 4-0, and that the election is over.

Some observers, having noted earlier statements by that organization leaning in this direction, and noting that the organization has ties to Mike Pence, have been wondering what this means for Donald Trump's chances of getting a pardon from President-for-a-Day Pence in January. Does it help or hurt Pence's chances in 2024? It depends on which way the Republican Party is headed. The DeVos family may be signalling that it should move away from Trump. I'm not sure Pence has a shot either way, but if Trump gets convicted of some crimes (or flees the country), Pence may hope he can convince voters that he was the "steady hand" working behind the scenes to keep things from getting really crazy in the White House.

(On that subject, along with many others, I have said that the expected spate of pardons from Trump --and maybe Pence-- will be very broad in scope, pardoning the recipients for something like "any crime they may have committed from January 1, 2015 through January 19, 2020." Elizabeth De La Vega, a former federal prosecutor, has recently been pointing out that there's been no litigation on the question of specificity in pardons. Ford's broad pardon of Nixon was never challenged.)

A group of black Michigan voters is now suing the Trump campaign, alleging that its attempts to coerce various officials violate the Voting Rights Act:
https://www.mlive.com/politics/2020/11/ ... votes.html

ETA: V, I'm also going to have to take your word for it that this stuff is funny

That, and the fact that they are going to court to establish that an election in which they were elected was invalid.

Boom.

That took way too long.

Okay gang, since it's becoming clear that there's a lot of overlap in the Twitter feeds we follow or lurk on, can anyone here fil me in on why @popehat is SerbianCommunistHat today? I know he picks his handles based on really outlandish thing public figures say but I can't connect this one to any recent news I've seen. Most of the time, when this happens, I fail to care, but this one has the potential to be profoundly amusing to me and my Serbian husband. Especially if it involves Dominion because we'll be laughing over that one for years.

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When you can do nothing what can you do?

GSA has ascertained and informed Biden it is prepared to begin the formal transition process (link when I've got one, it's just Twitter chatter for now).

Edit: Just a Twitter link, but it has photos of the letter (you can almost hear her teeth grinding):
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1331011299707408385

Edit2: No idea here, River (I actually don't even know who popehat is, though I'm guessing this explains the picture of a pope hat I occasionally see commenting on things)

Edit3: Just realized a day later that NEB's "Boom" was a link to this same story

I wish I could ask Cerin now if she thinks Trump should concede.

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I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

This person is an actual Congressman from Arizona.

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Dark have been my dreams of late.

Pennsylvania has joined Michigan and Georgia in certifying the results of the election. And for those keeping track, the attorneys prosecuting the Trump appeal in the Pennsylvania case did not ask that the court block Pennsylvania from certified the election (perhaps realizing that that barn door had already been blown to pieces). Instead, they requested that the appellate court issue a temporary restraining order that would "stay the effect" of Pennsylvania's (then impending, not occurring) certification. Which is not a thing.

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In gratitude forever … .